Hūd 11:40

The issue

The verse states that the Flood was preceded by the eruption of tannūr, which normally means “oven.” However, Muslim scholars disagree about this word’s meaning here in this verse and offer the following opinions:

Tannūr refers to the higher grounds, meaning that the higher grounds erupted with water, or the water gushed from the face of the earth, i.e., “fountains of the earth gushed forth” (Yusuf Ali, Sher ‘Alī trans.), “water came forth from the valley” (Shakir trans.).

Tannūr is a baking vessel that can gush or boil over with water, i.e., “oven gushed forth water” (Pickthall, Sale trans.). Al-Ṭabarī favors this interpretation. This opinion is the prevalent one in the Islamic literature.

Scholars of Arabic linguistics state that the word tannūr is Persian and is mentioned in the Qur’ān because the Arabs did not know another name for it (oven).

Orientalists propose that the word is Hebrew and comes from the Old Testament תַנּוּר (tannūr), which means “oven” (Gen. 15.17). This word is written in the Syriac Bible (the Peshitta) as ܬܢܘܪܐ (tannūru) and read in Acadian as tīnūru with the same meaning: tannūr (“oven”).

However, some Orientalists lean towards the opinion that the word is of Persian origin because it is found in the Avesta (an ancient sacred text) as tanūrā and also in the Behistun Inscription, where the word means “baking oven.” However, it is possible that the word originally was Semitic and later adopted by the Persian language. It is also possible that the word might have originated from an even earlier language.

The story of the Flood in the Qur’ān in its context is also found in the Hebrew literature, which speaks of the generation of the Flood being punished with boiling water, according to the Sanhedrin (a section of the Talmud) and the Genesis Rabbah. The Qur’ān’s narration concerning the people mocking Noah for building the ark closely resembles the account given in the Sanhedrin.

There is strong evidence that the story of the Flood entered the Qur’ān from the Hebrew narratives, which might have reached Muḥammad through direct or oral narrations.